Family Name

This winner of the 1997 Sundance Freedom of Expression Award follows filmmaker Macky Alston from New York to the South, as he embarks on an excavation to unearth the history of his white slave-owning family, and explores the link to the black families that shared his name. POV presented this special broadcast as the launch of the Television Race Intiative in 1998, to kick off a three-year effort in which diverse, character-driven public television broadcasts created a spine for community dialogue and problem-solving around the issue of race relations.